


Best Laid Plans

by houdini74



Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: Boys In Love, Canon Compliant, Committed Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-04
Updated: 2019-04-04
Packaged: 2020-01-04 18:43:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18349502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/houdini74/pseuds/houdini74
Summary: Patrick had everything planned down to the last detail. What could go wrong?Before S5E13 "The Hike"





	Best Laid Plans

**Author's Note:**

> Includes spoilers for S5E13 "The Hike."

When he was planning the proposal, he had thought about an entire list of places, but none of them felt right.

They had special memories together at the cafe, but the idea of proposing over a plate of freezer-burnt mozzarella sticks with Twyla watching didn’t seem very romantic, even if it did remind him of their first date.

He’d thought about the store, where they had first gotten to know each other, but he didn’t want to look back at what would hopefully be one of best moments of their lives only to be reminded of inventory and customers. Besides, the chances of them being interrupted were higher than he liked.

His apartment seemed too ordinary. Dinner in Elmdale was too impersonal.

He briefly considered making a grand gesture at the motel, but the thought of having an audience of Roses, or even worse, Stevie, cracking jokes while he tried to propose was too awful to think about.

So, the place he kept coming back to was somewhere that David had never been. He knew that convincing David to hike up any kind of mountain, even a very small one, wouldn’t be easy and that David would probably make him pay for it, but it just seemed right. It was a place that meant a lot to him and he wanted to share it with David.

He thought back to the first time he’d been there. It had been the day he’d spontaneously invited David to stay at his place so that he wouldn’t catch lice from Alexis. He still didn’t know what he’d been thinking. He didn’t have his own place then, he had been renting a room from Ray. He had blurted out the offer to his business partner without thinking about any of the details, simply wanting to help fix the problem that David was dealing with.

Later that day, as he’d played out the scene in his mind, he couldn’t stop thinking about David spending the night with him. Understanding had slowly dawned about what that meant, for himself, for David, for their business. Burning with nerves, he had left the store after work, driving almost aimlessly until he’d found the trailhead by accident and seized on the opportunity to be alone with his thoughts. He had sat there almost until dark that first day, thinking about David, thinking about how he felt, how much he wanted him, not knowing what to do about it.

He’d come back regularly over those first few months, working through the spark and desire he felt for David, tackling the complicated feelings that became easier and easier as their relationship evolved. 

He hadn’t been there in over a year. The last time had been after Rachel had showed up so unexpectedly, when he’d been bursting out of his skin with fear about the possibility of losing David. He had sat on the edge of the cliff for hours, thinking about every moment he and David had spent together and blaming himself for everything that had gone wrong. 

After they had come back together again, he had no longer felt that same need for quiet contemplation. From that point forward, everything he wanted and needed had been clear.

He’d ordered the rings six weeks ago, once he’d known without question that he was ready to spend the rest of his life with David. It had taken him nearly a week just to photograph and measure them, surreptitiously stealing moments when David was in the shower. As careful as he’d been, David had nearly caught him twice.

Before he’d decided on the four gold bands, he had looked at what felt like a million different rings online, wanting to find something that would make a statement opposite the heavy silver rings David usually wore. Then, one morning, as he looked over to where David had placed his rings by their bedside, he saw the sunlight strike them, turning the silver to gold and he knew he had found the answer.

The rings had arrived on the morning of his birthday. It had seemed like an auspicious sign, even though he wasn’t sure when he would be able to ask David to marry him. He knew he couldn’t propose without telling his parents about David, but he was scared of their reaction and even more terrified of doing it over the phone when he couldn’t see their faces. Later, as he swayed in David’s arms at the end of the party all he could think about was the overwhelming relief that he could finally put his plan in place to spend the rest of his life with the man he loved. 

In the days after the party, he planned out all the details and told David they were closing the store for the afternoon. He could picture in his mind how the day would go, the anticipation and happiness that he felt infusing his vision of how things would unfold.

Yesterday, he’d gone back to check out the trail and the picnic spot, making sure that everything was as he’d remembered it. As he'd stood on the edge of the cliff, he’d thought about what he wanted to say to David. He wanted to tell David how he had changed his life, how happy and safe David made him feel. About everything he’d felt for him from the beginning and how he treasured the risk David had taken by loving him back. How he loved being able to tease him until they both laughed. How they spent nearly every moment together, but it never seemed like enough. How he saw them, not just five years from now, but fifty, growing old together.

The champagne and cheese were in the fridge and everything else was packed in the two backpacks, ready for the next day. He opened the velvet box to look at the rings one last time before he tucked them into the front pocket of one of the bags. He hummed with satisfaction, knowing that he’d thought of every last detail. Tomorrow would be perfect.


End file.
